PUBLIC CONSULTATION
A9 Trunk Road
Helmsdale to Ord of Caithness Improvements
Phase 2 Route Options
Mon 3rd to Fri 14th Feb 2003
The Scottish Executive is extending consultation on the
A9 Helmsdale to Ord of Caithness Improvements Phase 2 Route Options. The
Exhibition material shown at the Exhibitions held in Helmsdale and Latheron
on 27th and 28th November 2002 will be displayed in an A3 bookletat Wick and Thurso Librariesbetween 3 and 14 Feb.A questionnaire will be available for people to send in their
views.

29 January 03
More History Comes To Life At Laidhay Croft Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) is giving
history a helping hand with a grant for the Laidhay Croft Museum at
Dunbeath. The Laidhay Preservation Trust has been awarded
£5,700 via the Community Economic Development (CED) programme -
administered by the development agency - to build a shed in which to
display historic crofting tools.

28 January 03
New Computer Games Place In ThursoComputer game enthusiasts in the far north are all rushing to Thurso, with
the opening of a dedicated computer gaming centre in the town.

28 January 03DEBUT PLANNED FOR HIGHLAND GROUP IN
CAPE BRETON MUSIC FESTIVALPlans are being made for a Highland debut in the
prestigious Cape Breton Celtic Colours Musical Festival. The proposed
visit in October has emerged from the co-operative agreement recently
signed by The Highland Council and the Nova Scotia Provincial Government,
which aims to encourage exchanges of young people as well establish joint
working on Gaelic language and culture; tourism; economic and social
development and education.

27 January 03There Is Life After BirthLorna
and Christine met each other in Craig Dunain where they were both being
treated for Post Natal depression. They clicked with each other in the way
that only women can do when they share similar experiences and
problems.........

Air Services In Highland Get
Extra Support24 January 03The Route Development fund for Highland airports
is to receive £300,000 from Highlands and Islands enterprise in a bid to
encourage more flights to and from the 10 Highlands and Islands airports.
The fund was started with a £1.2million grant from the Scottish Executive
and part of the aim is to increase the frequency of flights.

24 January 03
Wick West Councillor Deirdre Steven Sets Out For A Seat In Scottish
Parliament Deirdre Steven currently the local Highland Council
member for Wick West will not stand again in the ward as she intends to
stand as the Labour candidate for the Scottish Parliament in the
Caithness, Sutherland and North Ross-shire seat. Four candidates now
declared and include Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat) the sitting MSP,
Alan MacLeod (Conservative) and Rob Gibson (Scottish National
Party).

24 January 03DIRECTOR RENEWS PLEA TO PARENTSThe Highland Council’s Director of Education
Culture and Sport Bruce Robertson has renewed his plea to parents of all
Highland pupils to urge them not to take holidays during the school term
so the council can raise standards of achievement, part of which is
targeted at reducing absences from schools.

22 January 03COUNCIL HOUSE RENT INCREASES Average 3.8%When The Highland Council sets council house rents for the new
financial year on Thursday 13 February, it is being recommended to confirm
an average increase of 3.8 %. This will increase the average weekly rent
(over 48 weeks) from £47.98 to £49.80, a rise of £1.82.

22 January 03The Scottish Food Challenge - For All
Secondary Schools
The Scottish Food Challenge 2003, endorsed by the Executive's
Healthyliving campaign, was launched today. The Challenge, part of
Sainsbury’s Taste of Success scheme, is open to all secondary schools and
sets pupils the task of developing an inspiring recipe with the winning
dish being developed into a new food product or recipe card available
exclusively in Sainsbury’s stores.

22 January 03COUNCIL EAGER TO MAXIMISE COMMUNITY BENEFIT
AND ENVIRONMENTAL TAXATION The Highland Council is developing a strategy for maximising community
benefit from large-scale renewable energy developments that have a
long-term impact on the local environment. It believes it can be a model
for other local councils throughout Scotland to adopt. The Council
is in the forefront of interest in wind farm developments and small scale
hydro schemes and is anxious that developers are made aware from their
first contact of the Council' s expectation that local communities should
benefit. It is also to lobby hard to ensure that communities benefit
more from the distribution of the Aggregates Levy and the Landfill Tax
Credit Scheme.

22 January 03BUCKING THE NATIONAL TREND IN HIGHLAND WITH
SOCIAL WORK TRAINEE SCHEMEThe Highland Council has recorded a recruitment
success, which could prove an inspiration to other councils facing the
difficulty of recruiting qualified social workers. Through its
Social Work Service, the Council has introduced a new trainee scheme,
which gives staff the security of a job and the benefits of on-the-job
training for a professional qualification. The Council was delighted
with the response to its advert for its new trainee scheme. .....

22 January 03Winners Of
Visitor Centre Drawing CompetitionsDounreay
recently presented three talented local children with prizes that were
awarded for drawing competitions and a junior quiz, all of which were
held throughout the 2002 season in the Dounreay Visitor Centre. There
were also three other winners from various parts of the UK who received
their prizes through the post.

21 January 03Turning On The
internet TapThe campaign to convert internet access in the Highlands and Islands
from a luxury that ties up your telephone line to a utility that doesn't,
is to receive another major boost. Highlands and Islands Enterprise
(HIE) is to invest almost £750,000 in two major projects to promote the
benefits of broadband and encourage people to register their interest in
receiving it..................

21 January 03£16 MILLION FACILITY WILL
ENABLE FOREIGN WASTE
TO BE RETURNED TO CUSTOMERSThe UK Atomic Energy Authority has applied for planning
permission to construct a new facility for the management of
intermediate-level radioactive waste (ILW) at Dounreay. The
proposed waste transfer facility is designed to increase the site's
capacity for storage of waste from the decommissioning programme
at Dounreay. It will also enable the long-term management of liquid
waste after it has been conditioned in cement. The new facility will
allow a small proportion of this cemented waste to be returned to foreign
customers from 2008 under the terms of historical reprocessing contracts.50 New Jobs
Subject to planning and regulatory consent, the new facility is expected
to create 50 jobs during its two-year construction and a further five
when it comes into operation. It is expected to cost in the region of
£16 million to design and build............

21 January 03TAXI FARE INCREASES TAKE EFFECT
FROM 3 FEB 2003New taxi fares will come into effect throughout
the Highlands from 3 February. Following consultation with the
trade, it has been agreed that a £1.80 initial fare on tariff 1 be
introduced and increases across the board be set at 10%. It has also been
agreed that a soiling charge of £50 be introduced as compensation to a
driver when a passenger causes the vehicle to be put off the road for
cleaning.

21 January 03DUNBAR HOSPITAL ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY
SERVICE
TO RE-OPEN ON 28TH FEBRUARY 2003A new and improved Accident and Emergency (A&E)
service at Dunbar Hospital in Thurso will be re-open on 28th February
2003. The A&E service has been
temporarily closed since May 2002 when the service provided at Dunbar
Hospital was transferred to the A & E Department at Caithness General
Hospital in Wick...........

Cabrelli's Closing After 110
Years17 January
03You only have a few days
left to sample the food at one of Wick's oldest cafes. After 110
years the cafe will change hands on Tuesday and become a Chinese
restaurant. From 1893 - 2003 is quite a record to be in business.
The only gap was during the war years when many people of Italian
extraction were interned. The names of Iacherri, Cardosi and
Cabrelli - the names of the owners are well known to many Caithness folk
and how many have passed through the doors for an ice cream, smokes,
sweets, snacks or a full meal.

CASE Helps With A Face-Lift For Forss15 January
03Caithness
and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) is committing over £600,000 towards
environmental renewal works aimed at improving the external surroundings
of the Forss Business and Technology Park, which is under development near
Thurso.

Chancellor of the
Exchequer Gordon Brown at a press conference at the Treasury today
announced the changes being made to tax credits in the UK. April
this year brings the biggest change in children’s benefits for
decades.................

COUNCIL CAMPAIGN ON TAX
COLLECTION IMPROVEMENTThe Highland Council
is one of seven councils in Scotland, which have been commended by the
Accounts Commission for making a notable improvement in their level of
collection of the Council Tax. The rate in Highland has risen to 92.2%, an
increase of 7.1% since 1996/97, when the Commission began tracking
performance information................

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK ELECTIONS13 January
The 13,000 residents, who live within Britain’s largest national park at
the Cairngorms, will be asked soon to vote for the five community
representatives, who will serve on the 25-strong Park Authority from its
inception on 25 March.

Pulteneytown Church New
Porch10 JanuaryThe
new porch at Pulteneytown church designed to protect parishioners from the
wet and windy days we have at times in Caithness has met with mixed
reception from locals. It all depends on your point of
view.........................

PROMOTING CIVIC PRIDE IN CAITHNESS9 JanuaryCommunity groups throughout Caithness are being
invited to a meeting next week when an attempt will be made to cultivate
interest in promoting civic pride through floral and other activities.
Caithness Floral Activities Working Group, formed by The Highland Councils
Caithness Area Committee, has called a public meeting at Watten Hall,
Watten, on Tuesday (14 January) commencing at 7.30 pm to identify interest
in joint working and to discuss funding opportunities.

COUNCIL WELCOMES EXECUTIVE’S CITY
GROWTH FUNDThe Highland Council has welcomed the allocation
of £3.1 million over the next three years to Inverness as the result of
review of Scotland’s six cities by the Scottish Executive. The money comes
from a City Growth Fund, totalling £90 million, which is aimed at helping
boost the economies of Scotland’s six cities.

New Bench Seats For Crimea
Monument9 JanuaryDavid Morrison as Chairman of the
Footpaths Committee of Wick Community Council has received good news from
Scottish Water with regard to the bench seating around the monument.
Scottish Water has confirmed that as part of the work at the new Waste
Water Treatment Plant currently under construction outside wick they will
replace the bench seating at the Crimea monument.

New Renal Unit Opens At
Caithness General HospitalThe
new renal unit opened at Caithness General with staff having undergone
full training. the new unit means an end for many patients who had
previously to travel overt two hundred miles round trip to Raigmore
hospital in Inverness up to three times a week.

LIST OF OPTIONS FOR MANAGING
PARTICLES LEGACY8 JanThe UK Atomic Energy
Authority today published a preliminary list of options
for managing the legacy of radioactive particles in the
offshore sediment near Dounreay.
The preliminary options are identified in the latest edition of
Dounreay's Public Participation Newsletter for stakeholders,
published on the opening day of an exhibition in
Caithness and Sutherland about the particles
legacy..............

Training Opportunities In
Tourism And Hospitality8 JanPeople in Caithness and Sutherland considering working in the tourism
and hospitality industry are to be given an ideal opportunity to acquire
the essential skills required to gain employment in that sector.
A limited number of places are available on three separate pre-season
training courses, which are to be funded by Caithness and Sutherland
Enterprise (CASE) via their ESF assisted Tourism Training initiative, are
to be delivered at venues in Wick, Durness and Dornoch. The courses,
which are free of charge, will run from 17th February - 5th March.

CAMPAIGN FOR INVESTMENT IN
LIFELINE RURAL ROADS A campaign has been
launched in the Highlands and Islands to make greater progress in
transforming 1,700 km of lifeline single track roads to modern standards,
at an estimated cost of £400 million. HITRANS,
the strategic transport partnership for the Highlands and Islands, is
enlisting the support of a wide range of public agencies and businesses to
argue for the annual funding for the upgrading of single track roads to be
significantly increased to ensure improvements are made within the 20-year
period of its strategy.

HIGHLAND COUNCIL TWO TARGETS
FOR THE NEW YEARThe Highland Council hopes to make progress on
two campaigning issues in the New Year. The Council is arguing strongly
for the Scottish Executive to: -
remove the 50% Council Tax discount offered to the owners of second homes
and long-term empty homes; and Enter into early negotiations with Skye
Bridge Ltd to buy out the toll regime, thereby "unlocking the potential of
Skye and Lochalsh".

SUSPECTED GAS LEAK-
THURSO 7 January
About 1712 hours on Monday, 6th January, 2002, Police at Thurso received
reports of a smell of gas and a visible haze near to the Gasworks at
Janetstown, near Thurso.

Be Prepared For Cold Weather If
Driving6 JanuaryScotland is lined up for some very cold weather
in the next few weeks if the forecasts prove correct. Here in the
Highlands most folk are used to some years being far worse than others but
it is as well to remember to make sure that some things are looked at
especially if you are travelling far in your car.

FIRE - WICK
6 JanuaryAbout 0615 hours on Saturday 4th January 2003 the occupant of No 23
Henrietta Street, Wick, discovered a fire within the hallway of his house.
The fire was quickly extinguished and nobody was injured as a result, with
only minor damage to the house. Police are treating the fire as
suspicious and are appealing for witnesses and/or information on this
incident.

WARNING TO B &
B OWNERS6 January Police in Inverness are warning Bed and Breakfast owners to be wary of
a couple who left their B & B yesterday taking their key but leaving no
money.

Particles Exhibition2 January 2003A number of preliminary options for managing
radioactive particles in the offshore sediment near Dounreay will be
published next week on the opening day of an exhibition intended to inform
and stimulate debate about the issue.
The exhibitions will take place on:
Wed, Jan 8th 4pm to 8pm at the Victoria Hall, Reay.
Thur, Jan 9th 11am to 3pm and 6pm to 8pm at Thurso Town Hall.
Friday, January 10th 11am to 3pm at Thurso Town Hall.